I'm in the market for a film scanner under $800 and was wondering what people who've had experience with one or more had to say about them, good or bad.

I've already considered and decided against the Olympus ES-10, HP Photosmart and Canoscan 2700 as I've heard too many complaints about their slide scanning qualities. I'm also leaning against the Minolta Dimage Dual as I've been told that its color rendition isn't that great, as well as the Microtek/Adara/Polaroid 35t since they "only" have a 1950dpi resolution.

Right now I'm leaning most stongly towards the Nikon LS-20, as it's supposed to have the best all-around features and quality in this price range, comes in a convenient internal version, and is supported under NT 4.0, my OS. But I'm open to any and all suggestions and comments about this or any other film scanner.

Thanks,

Kovie Adar

-- Kovie Adar (kovie@earthlink.net), April 15, 1998

Answers

Kovie-

We're just moving into slide scanners, so I don't have a lot to share with you yet. We have an Olympus ES-10 scanner in-house, and hope to have the review and sample images from it posted in a week or so. Konica has expressed interest in having us review the QScan, and Nikon is (maybe) going to have us review their new LS-2000. Unfortunately, even if we get the LS-2000 from Nikon, I doubt they'll support a presentation of their LS-20, as it's an older product, and hence they're less likely to commit new resources to marketing it. (Not that it's a bad scanner by a long shot: I've heard very good things about it!) We're scheduled to have a talk Tuesday with HP - wish us luck, maybe we'll be able to show you what the PhotoSmart scanner can do! We also hope to have some representation of the Polaroid models soon as well... Meanwhile, check back in another week or so to see if we have the ES-10 review up. (I have to say that so far, based on just a little playing around with it, I really like it a lot - the color is very good, and the pictures are surprisingly sharp, considering that it's "only" 3.8 megapixels.)

Thanks for your interest in The Imaging Resource!

- Dave E.

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), April 23, 1998.

Kovie,

Don't completely discount the HP Photosmart scanner. I picked one up two weeks ago (the $399 price was just about irresistable) and have been extremely happy with it. The images that I've pulled from negatives have been good, the images from slides have been great. In only a few of the slides I've scanned have I found noise in the dark areas of the slide. For me it's worked out well.

-- Tom Obszanski (tobszans@ot.com), April 18, 1998.

I've just started using the Konica Qscan and am impressed with its results from both slides and negatives despite only having 1200 dpi resolution.

Don't rule out the Microtek/Polaroid low-end model. Its 1950 dpi is pretty good.

The best model I've seen is the 2700 dpi Polaroid Sprintscan 35 Plus but it costs too much as $1800 or thereabouts.

-- John Rettie (john@johnrettie.com), April 23, 1998.

I'm very interested in any new information about slide scanners. I'm going to purchase one soon and its between the Dimage Scan Dual and the ES-10. I'm very happy you did the review of the ES-10 it gives me something to think about but I havent been able to find any reviews of the Minolta. There have been plenty of people asking about it though. They are both about $450-500 range and I'm leaning towards the ES-10 because of software and support. The Dimage seems like a better scanner spec wise.

Any opinions? If the Dimage is significantly better quality wise I'm willing to go with it even if the support isnt that good.

Any ideas where to find more infomration?

jacob jriskin@static.com icq#4259391

-- Jacob Riskin (jriskin@static.com), July 28, 1998.

I am also looking to purchase a film scanner and find myself leaning towards either the Olympus ES-10 or the Minolta Dimage Scan (if I stay under $800). Unfortunately for my pocket book I am also interested in the new Nikon Coolscan III (LS-30) listed for approximately $930. I am hoping that this is one of the Nikon scanners which will be tested soon by Kovie. I would love any information or reviews on the Minolta or Nikon.

-- Jack May (jmay3@talweb.com), September 27, 1998.

There are excellent reviews of scanners at http://www.cix.co.uk/~tsphoto/tech/filmscan/index.htm#index

-- mitch hull (mhull@aestaley.com), October 31, 1998.